Pompeii

The things that shake the whole world
are merciful and rare.

Mt. St. Helen’s
Krakatoa
Pompeii

We thank you
for every once in a while
encasing a scene in ash

to be studied
at a later date.

But, stick a pin in a map, anywhere
and I promise you

a disaster happened there.
Undocumented, unregistered
on any scale.

Someone was broken,
someone simply walked away,
the locks got changed

and no one from the government
ever came around to do a survey.

Mt. St. Helen’s
Krakatoa
Pompeii

The things that shake the whole world
are merciful and rare.

Those events have been
well-examined.

I wish they were the ones
that mattered.

–November 18, 2015